Municipal Technical Advisory Service

Consulting firms specializing in municipal government are nothing new, but there's nothing else in the country quite like MTAS. If you are an official of a Tennessee town or city, MTAS is your resource. An agency of The University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service, MTAS provides technical assistance to cities and towns across the state: their governing bodies, mayors, city managers, city recorders, and city department heads. MTAS consultants will assist in the development of practical and individual solutions for your city.

Established in 1949 by the Tennessee General Assembly, MTAS is funded by a direct state appropriation and a portion of the local share of the statewide sales tax. Almost all of MTAS's services are prepaid; the cities we serve don't get a bill. As the name implies, MTAS is a technical assistance provider with consultants who specialize in most areas of municipal operations. MTAS annually completes more than 1,000 major municipal management projects and provides an average of 6,000 other services each year.

The mission "to provide continuing service to Tennessee municipalities in the form of technical assistance" is approached independently of academic research and teaching. MTAS consultants provide assistance in city halls throughout the state. MTAS also produces publications on a wide range of municipal topics, houses a technical reference library in Knoxville, and serves as a clearinghouse for information on a broad range of municipal issues. MTAS works in cooperation with the Tennessee Municipal League, an organization providing Tennessee cities with unified representation at the legislative level.